The CBI Sunday interrogated BJP leader Mukul Roy and arrested IPS officer SMH Mirza "face-to-face" at the former's residence in south Kolkata in connection with the Narada sting operation case. The central agency had interrogated Roy for over three hours on Saturday at its Nizam Palace office. The entire "face-to-face interrogation" has been videographed, PTI quoted CBI as saying. Among the 14 booked by the CBI in the case, Roy was with the Trinamool Congress until 2017 when he quit and joined the BJP. Mirza was once considered close to Roy. The CBI made the first arrest in the Narada case with the arrest of senior IPS officer SMH Mirza on Thursday. CBI sources said Mirza had allegedly taken Roy’s name after his arrest. He claimed that Roy had introduced him to Mathew Samuel, of the Narada News portal, who had conducted the sting operation. Mirza was the then Burdwan Superintendent of Police. Following this, the CBI decided to examine both Roy and Mirza face-to-face. The tapes had surfaced ahead of 2016 West Bengal assembly polls. In the videos, several individuals, including Mukul Roy and Sovon Chatterjee, who are now with the BJP, and Trinamool Congress’ Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Sougata Roy and others, were seen purportedly discussing receiving cash from a journalist who posed as a person with business interests in Bengal. The videos were shown on Narada TV. Mirza was seen accepting Rs 5 lakh cash from a businessman in one of the footages. The former Burdwan SP had apparently claimed in the video that he was receiving the cash on Roy's instructions. Roy has blamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for conspiring against him. “Did anyone see me taking money. It’s the conspiracy of the CM.. she is asking everyone who is being arrested on corruption charges to take my name,” he said. Earlier this month, several TMC ministers and leaders, including Subrata Mukherjee, Kakoli Dastidar, Sougata Roy and Madan Mitra, have been subjected to voice sample tests in connection with the purported sting operation.
